Present practice in print shops that utilize high speed laser printers require that an unwind machine be replaced by a box feeder when perforated paper sheets are to be fed from boxes of folded, but connected sheets into the laser printer for printing. The perforated paper comprises a plurality of sheets integrally interconnected to one another and folded one on top of another so as to be stored in boxes. The box feeder may include suitable means for splicing the paper web from box to box, and the paper web is provided over sprockets rather than requiring the usual tension free loop as is the case with a conventional unwind machine of the type described in the above-identified application Ser. No. 218,512.
The present invention provides for the unwind machine to be left in place even when the paper web to be printed is fed from boxes into the laser printer. This result is made possible by providing a path for the perforated paper web fed from the box feeder so as to allow the web to be fed directly into the laser printer without requiring removal and replacement of the unwind machine. As a result, the downtime of the printer is minimized, and greater versatility is provided for the print shop operator in that paper web from a roll can be printed upon, or in the alternative perforated paper web from boxes can also be printed on in the same high speed laser printer.
Small print shops are generally set-up for handling perforated paper fed from a box feeder. However, such small print shops face the necessity for adapting to the feeding of paper from a roll in an unwind machine that may or may not provide for rewinding the paper on a paper roll after it is printed upon. The present invention also allows printing on paper web from a roll in the unwind machine. The paper is then fed from the laser printer after it is printed upon into a folder. Alternatively, perforated paper can be fed from a box feeder through a pair of angularly related rollers and into the laser printer for printing. The printed paper can then be fed into the same folder is desired.
A general purpose and object of the present invention is to provide for alternative feeding of paper web either from a paper roll in a conventional unwind machine, or from a conventional box feeder provided alongside the unwind machine. Heretofore, one or the other of these two machines had to be located in alignment with the input end of the laser printer in order to function in the manner known in the prior art. The present invention provides an improved set-up whereby down time for the laser printer is significantly reduced from that normally required to replace one or the other of the unwind machine or the box feeder as required to set-up for printing upon paper webs of different source characteristics, that is, a roll of paper or a box of integrally connected perforated paper sheets.